War of the Heartstone
by Amaranthiel
Summary: Demon hunting brothers Sora, Leon, Roxas, and Ventus encounter both Riku, a boy with a mysterious past, and the Organization, while they try to rid Radiant Garden of the demons who threaten it's people. Sora/Riku, Axel/Roxas, Cloud/Leon
1. Prologue: A Thief in the Night

Hi people! This is Amaranthiel. So, this is my first time writing fanfiction, and I'm a bit nervous. But what the heck! Here it is! Starting off on a bit of a dark note, but once Sora's irrepressible happiness starts kicking in I'm sure things'll lighten up. J

Disclaimer: I don't own any Squeenix characters or worlds. This makes me SAD.

Ok, I'm done blathering. If you had the patience to read my textual rant, applause! P.S. Anyone who reviews gets a virtual hug and a brownie.

WAR OF THE HEARTSTONE

Prologue: A Thief in the Night

The Hunter's moon shone full and bright over Castle Oblivion, and the stars were bright in the night sky. A cool breeze whispered through the ramparts, and then suddenly the stillness of the night was shattered by the shouts of people below.

"I found him!"

"Quickly men, get him! We can't let him escape!"

There was the sound of boots pounding up the stairs to the battlements, and then the soldiers reached the battlements, facing the tall man who stood on the ramparts, his long silver hair floating in the breeze.

Seeing their quarry, the men rushed forward, only to see a flash of metal and hear the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath. A second later, there was blood pooling on the cold stones below.

The tall man rolled his turquoise eyes as he wiped off the (incredibly long) blade of his sword. "Weaklings," he muttered.

He opened the pouch he was carrying in his left hand and pulled out a small box, the item he had just taken from its altar in the grand hall of this castle full of imbeciles. Opening the wooden box with something near to reverence, he reached inside and took out a glimmering diamond. Its many-faceted surface was flawless and had a faint pink tinge. It had been cut into the shape of a heart.

"The Heartstone," he breathed.

Then voices reached his ears, frantic and angry. He wasn't home free yet. Quickly, he placed the jewel back in its box and shoved it into the pouch. He turned to face the land spread out below the castle walls. As much as he would've liked to stay and kill everyone who lived here, he couldn't risk any possibility of losing the prize he held in his hands.

A single black wing unfurled from his back as Sephiroth jumped off the rampart and vanished into the black of night, carrying with him a treasure worth more munny than could be found in the world.


	2. Chapter 1: Who is That?

_Yay, first real chapter, and main character introductions! Rejoice and be happy!_

_But before we start..._

_** Ciel Goldsmith**, thank you so much for the review! it made me feel so special...and yes, there will be Ven/Terra in the fic :)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Square Enix worlds, characters, weapons, or motorcycles. *sob*_

_And one last thing...If you review, Sora will give you a hug and a sea-salt ice cream. If you don't, I will sic a pancake-deprived Roxas on you._

Chapter One: Who Is _That?_

"Come on guys, let's go!" Sora bounced up and down in front of his two older brothers, trying as hard as he could to separate them from their precious pancakes. "Roxas, Ven, come on…" he whined. "Leon's already left, and I wanna get going as soon as possible!"

Ventus looked over him and raised one eyebrow. "Sora, you've never been on time for anything, _ever._ Why the big rush today?"

Sora pouted. "You know why. It's my first field mission!" He grinned excitedly. He and his three brothers lived in Hollow Bastion, the castle above the kingdom of Radiant Garden. It was home to the Demon Hunters, established 500 years ago by King Ansem the Wise, who protected the people of Radiant Garden from the hordes of dark creatures that lived in the Great Maw, a wasteland several miles from the city. According to tradition, young Demon Hunters were only allowed to enter the Great Maw once they were sixteen, and since Sora had just reached said age recently, he wanted to go. Now.

Ventus and Roxas, his twin brothers, would not be rushed.

So Sora, being young, and not in possession of very much self-control (actually, it's disputable if he had any at all), reached forward and yanked the plate of pancakes away from a suddenly very disgruntled Roxas.

With a shout of "Hey!" Roxas made a grab to retrieve his pancakes, and somehow they ended flying through the air, and landing face down on Ven's head. In retaliation, Ven squirted syrup on both of his brothers' faces.

Thus began the most epic pancake battle the castle of Hollow Bastion had ever seen.

_X X X_

Squall "Leon" Leonhart, eldest of the Leonhart brothers four, was not a patient man. During the entirety of the epic pancake fight that was raging two floors above him and for twenty minutes before that he had been sitting in the comfy swivel chair in Cid's –the technician- office (or command center, if you will). As these very words were being written, he was sharpening his gunblade and devising as many painful methods of death and disembowelment for his extremely tardy younger brothers as he could think of.

He was distracted from his plans of triple homicide by Cid, who stomped into the room grunting, "Get outta my chair, Leonhart."

Leon stood to make way for the grizzled older man, who reclaimed his chair and rolled himself over to the far wall where a large computer monitor was positioned. It was currently displaying a map of the Great Maw. There were red blinking dots moving around the map, each dot representing the current location of a demon.

"So, where're those brothers of yours?" Cid asked.

Leon glared, inwardly hoping his murderous aura would penetrate throughout the castle and Sora, Roxas and Ventus would get their butts in gear. "Late, as usual. Only, later than their norm…so…" He trailed off and walked to the door, then stuck his head into the stairwell that led to the residential area and yelled, "AND IF THEY DON'T GET THEIR ASSES DOWN HERE IN TWO MINUTES, THERE WILL BE VIOLENCE!"

Before the last echoes had died away, Leon could hear (with some satisfaction) the sound of three teenage boys running down the stairs as fast as was humanly possible.

Sora came crashing through first, nearly dropping his sword, Ultima, as he tumbled into the room. Roxas and Ventus followed with considerably more grace, although Ven hadn't quite succeeded in removing all the syrup from his hair.

The three boys saluted Leon and Cid. "Reporting for duty!" Sora said.

"You're not in the army, boy," Cid said gruffly. He turned and examined the digital map. "A large concentration of Dusks has appeared here, near the Dark Depths. Leon and Sora, can you travel there and exterminate them? And Rox and Ven, you should go to the Crystal Caves. I've noticed some Shadows skulking around and we don't want any miners to get attacked now, do we?"

"Right," Leon said, and moved towards the door, grabbing Sora and dragging him along behind him. "We'll take Yuffie's hover-scooter, since we're short on time as is."

"Got it!" Sora replied. Finally, he was going on a mission!

_X X X_

An hour and one excruciating scooter ride later, Leon and Sora crouched behind a rock, looking for the Dusks Cid had spotted. As far as Sora could see, there was nothing in sight, except for a grey sky and a whole lot of brown earth.

Leon reached into the backpack he was carrying and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He handed them to Sora, saying, "Look through these. Tell me what you see."

Sora took them with a grimace. Leon was treating him like some student. He wasn't a student; he was Sora, Demon Hunter extraordinaire! But, Leon was giving him a Look _,_so he peered through the binoculars at the landscape around them.

"Well…I see…dirt! A lot of it! And some bushes."

Leon groaned and buried his face in his hands. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was related to this guy. "No, I meant…do you see anything out of the ordinary? Like, you know, demons?"

"I don't see any demons, but there's a huge dead tree…and- whoa, what is that?! Cool!" And then Sora had dropped the binoculars and jogged up to get a closer look at the large, shiny black motorcycle that was parked under said tree.

As soon as Leon saw the motorcycle, his stomach dropped. Could it really be…? "No, Sora! Don't touch it!" he yelled.

Of course Sora, being Sora, didn't hear him, and was just reaching out to touch the motorcycle, when suddenly the cool metal of a sword blade touched his throat. Eyes widening, Sora slowly turned to look at the owner of the sword, a young man with spiky blond hair and brilliant blue eyes.

"Sora!" Leon ran up and shoved his younger brother out of the reach of the man's huge sword. The stranger looked up at the sound of Leon's voice, then their eyes met, and both men froze.

"Leon?" the stranger whispered.

"Cloud." Leon had a strange look on his face; it was like he was battling to push down some emotion that had risen inside him.

"I never thought…I would see you, here," Cloud mumbled. He seemed unsure of himself. "So, this is Sora, huh? Heh. Last time I saw you, you were so little."

"Um, who are you?" Sora asked, confused.

"I'm…nobody. In fact, I should be leaving now." Cloud pushed past Sora and Leon and got on his bike, starting it up.

The noise seemed to jar Leon. "Cloud, wait!" he nearly shouted. When Sora and Cloud looked at him curiously, he reddened slightly. "I mean…Cloud. You should come back to the castle sometime. Tifa and Yuffie and Aerith, they miss you." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I…miss you, too."

Cloud flinched. "I can't. I'm sorry, Leon, but I just can't." He took a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. He looked like he was about to ride off, but then he stopped, frowned, and looked at Sora. "Oh yeah, and Sora?"

"Huh?"

"Don't ever try to touch my bike again."

And with that, he sped off, leaving Sora and Leon in a cloud of dust.

X X X

"This is stupid," Roxas told Ven as they stood on a ledge overlooking the purple and blue glow of the Crystal Caves. "Cid's fancy computer must've broken. There aren't any Shadows here."

Ven glanced at his twin. "I'm sure they're here somewhere. Cid's tracking system is never wrong. Anyway, if I go home without killing anything, Terra will never let me hear the end of it."

Roxas snorted. "I should've known. It's all to prove yourself to Terra."

"What?"

"Nothing…" Roxas grinned to himself as he drew his sword, Oblivion, and turned to Ven. "How 'bout we spar a little, and get Oathkeeper a little banged up. Then you can go home and tell everyone it's from hunting Shadows. Terra won't know the difference."

Ven pulled his beloved blade close. "Nuh uh, no way." He glared at his brother, but then something behind Roxas caught his eye. "Hey, over there!"

The two blonds ran to the edge of the cliff. Below them, navigating through the clumps of crystals that grew in the ravine was a thin figure in a black cloak. The hood was down, but all they could see from this distance was that whoever it was had a shock of bright red hair.

"Who is _that_?" Ven wondered.

"It's not a demon...but definitely not a citizen," Roxas decided. The figure seemed to be searching for something, because it was crouching every couple of feet and looking under the crystals.

"We should get back. We need to tell the others, see what they think," Ven voiced. Roxas agreed, and the two boys turned and ran back to Hollow Bastion, not noticing the eyes that followed them the whole way.


	3. Chapter 2: SilverHaired Boy

_Hi guys! Welp, here's chapter 2. sorry it took so long for me to get it up, but life likes to suck and throw nasty curveballs like your parents finding out you're failing math at you. ANYHOO, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys are why I'm writing this, so huggles to all!_

Disclaimer: I do not own any Square Enix worlds or characters. Yet.

Chapter Two: Silver-Haired Boy

Roxas and Ven waited anxiously in the Great Hall of Hollow Bastion for the rest of the Demon Hunters to arrive. As soon as they had gotten back to the castle they had called a meeting by way of the loudspeaker system Cid had installed last year, and hopefully people would show. Roxas knew that Seifer, Fuu, and Rai were away visiting family in Twilight Town, and Tidus and Yuna* were on their honeymoon on the Destiny Islands (Aerith had married them last month), but everyone else should be in the castle.

Yuffie was the first to arrive, her older sister Tifa following close behind.

"Hiya, guys!" she beamed, bouncing into the room and poking both boys in the chest. "So what's this meeting all about? I wanna know why I was dragged away from all the vicarious fun I was having. Oh yeah, and when Cid gets here he might be in a bad mood, but don't worry, it's not your fault."

Roxas breathed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ven looked at Tifa.

"What…did she do?" he asked nervously.

Tifa rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her long, dark hair. "She was apparently spray-painting the Highwind florescent green. Thank God Cid wasn't around, because I'm not sure if-"

"YUFFIE! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DARLING VESSEL?!"

Yuffie laughed, albeit a bit nervously, and scurried behind Roxas as Cid came crashing into the room.

"Where's that ninja? You!" Cid pointed an accusing finger at Yuffie, who had poked a hand around Roxas's shoulder and waved. "By Gaia, why I oughtta…"

"Cid, are you threatening people again?" Terra asked as he and Aqua strolled in.

Ven's eyes immediately flew to his best friend, and the two boys grinned at each other. "Hey Terra," Ven said.

Terra nodded in response. The silky strands of his brown hair brushed against his jaw as he crossed the room and took a seat at the large stone table at its center. Everyone else followed suit, Cid glaring at Yuffie the whole time.

"So, who else is coming?" Aqua asked.

Roxas did a quick mental tally. "Sora and Leon, and Aerith, Kairi, and Namine."

"We're here!" The call came from Aerith, the main healer, and her two apprentices, Kairi and Namine. The three young women gracefully floated into the room and took their seats.

"Great." Terra said. "So that just leaves-"

"Us!" Sora jumped into the room, followed by Leon, who was looking moodier than usual.

Once everyone was in their place, Roxas addressed the group. "Uh, hi everyone. We called this meeting to tell you something. When Ven and I were out on a mission, we saw a suspicious figure. He was tall and thin, with bright red hair and a long black cloak. It definitely wasn't a civilian, because only miners venture out that far and this guy wasn't a miner. It looked like he was looking for something."

"Are you sure it wasn't Reno?" Tifa asked.

"No, he didn't have a ponytail."

"Who's Reno?" Sora asked Leon in a whisper.

"Renegade Hunter," Leon muttered. "He operates with his partner Rude, but we don't know from where. Occasionally we contact each other, but there are people out there who prefer solitude…"

"Oh, like that man Cloud? You seemed to know him."

Leon stiffened ever so slightly. "Yeah. He always was a loner."

"So…if who you saw wasn't a citizen, Reno, or a demon…who was it?" Yuffie questioned.

"That's what we wanted to know," Ventus told her. "Any ideas?"

"Well, I dunno who you saw, but did they seem like they would be a threat?" asked Cid.

"I'm not sure…"

"Maybe it's a shape-shifting demon," suggested Kairi, twirling a strand of red hair around her finger.

"Ugh, that would be bad," groaned Terra. "We wouldn't know if it was a normal person, or a demon…that would get messy."

"I suggest we send Roxas and Ventus on a recon mission, and they can look for this person again, and find out more about him," said Aerith.

"Good idea."

"Yeah, we should do that, Ven!"

A consensus was reached. Aerith, as usual, had the best idea. Of course, Aerith also had other things that needed to be discussed.

"So, Cid, when is that shipment of Ethers going to arrive?" she wanted to know. "We're running low at the infirmary."

"They'll get here when they get here!"

X x X

Sora was bored. Now that the meeting's topic has shifted onto less fascinating subjects than suspicious personnel, it seemed to be dragging on _forever_.

To say Sora was getting fidgety would be an understatement.

After a few minutes of listening to Aerith arguing with Cid, then Cid arguing with Tifa, and so on and so forth, he silently rose and slipped out of the room.

He strolled down the hallway that led to the balcony where all the mechanic lifts that served as transport around Hollow Bastion met. Once there, he got on the lift to the outside face of the castle (affectionately referred to as the Great Crest).

On the Great Crest, the afternoon sun shone down warmly on the pinkish stones that the castle was built of. There was a gentle breeze that stirred the brown spikes of Sora's hair, and he sighed happily. He had the best secret hiding spot in Radiant Garden.

He sat, dangling his feet off the ledge that ran along the face of the castle, and marveled at the view. All of Radiant Garden was spread before him, sunlight glinting off the red tiled roofs of the houses. From his perch he could see the large fountain at the center of town, and, beyond it, the high stone wall that surrounded the city, built many years before the Demon Hunters had been established.

His gaze shifted to left, to the spot where the land blackened and turned into the wasteland. The Great Maw. There was no green there, no signs of life, although Sora knew there were more demons living in that land than could be counted.

The demons had always been a great mystery to Sora. They were evil, he knew. He had seen the mangled bodies of fools who ventured too far out of the city's limits. But where had they come from? Could they think like humans? There was so much he didn't know.

Just then, something caught the light, reflecting it into Sora's eyes and making him blink. He squinted to see what it was, and down below, moving slowly through the wasteland, was the figure of a person with silver hair.

Sora frowned. The figure was wearing black. Was he another one of Roxas's mysterious people? Should he go get Leon? No. Then someone else might take his credit for sighting him. He wasn't useless. He could go down there himself to confront the person.

He jumped to his feet and ran back to the lift and down the hall, leaping down the stairs to the entrance hall and out the doors, dashing through the stone buildings of Radiant Garden until he reached the main gate. The guards at the gate, who knew him as a Demon Hunter, lifted the gate to let him through, and Sora made his way into the Great Maw.

Hiding behind a large rock, Sora had a clear view of the person. He was a boy, but it was hard for Sora to tell how old. He had shoulder length silver hair, and he was wearing a long black cloak and a blindfold. _Why's he wearing a blindfold?_ Sora wondered. _That's stupid. He won't be able to see if he gets attacked. Oh yeah…he won't, will he? Hehehehe…_

So Sora took a deep breath, steeled himself, then jumped up and tackled the strange boy.

"Yaaaaaah!"

"Whaaaugh!"

Thud.

Sora landed directly on top of the other boy, who immediately rolled out from underneath him and sprang to his feet, ripping off his blindfold.

Sora blinked. The boy's eyes were a clear aqua green color, and they completely transformed his face, making him look much younger. In fact, he was probably only about a year older than Sora. And he was _hot._

"Who the hell are you?" the boy demanded.

"That's what I was going to ask you," Sora answered defiantly. "And what're you doing here?"

"I live here," he spat. "And I wasn't doing anything wrong. So why did you attack me?"

Sora flushed. "I thought you were a suspicious person, like the one my brother saw."

"Um, ok?" the boy definitely had a '_what the hell?' _look now. "Your brother?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, me and my brothers are Demon Hunters. We live up in the castle over there." Sora waved in the direction of Radiant Garden.

"Oh." The boy stared curiously at the city. "You know, I've never been there before."

"But I thought you lived there!"

"No, not in the city. Here." The boy gestured to the Great Maw.

Sora was flabbergasted. "You live in the Great Maw? But what about all the demons?"

"I leave them alone, and they leave me alone. It works out."

Sora gaped at him. He didn't know that was possible. "Who are you?"

The boy regarded him, his sharp features serious. "You first. What's your name?"

"I'm Sora. Sora Leonhart, actually. What about you?"

The boy grinned and extended a hand to help Sora to his feet.

"My name's Riku."

* * *

_* I know, it's canon (le gasp!) but after playing it/watching all the cutscenes, I couldn't resist putting it in here. They're just SO CUTE together!_


End file.
